This year marks the tenth anniversary of the international practicum to Italy organized by Nipissing University’s Schulich School of Education, and the Brantford community has been a big supporter. In 2009, just four days before the Nipissing students were scheduled to depart to Italy, the city of L’Aquila was devastated by an earthquake and the students had to travel to northern Italy instead. The Brantford Italian community assisted the University of L’Aquila by fundraising $34,000 to purchase technological equipment that had been destroyed by the earthquake.

This year a Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser was held at the Rossini Lodge. In attendance were many students, their families and local dignitaries such as Dave Levac, Phil McColeman and Colleen Miller.

“Brantford can be proud of how the community has always supported this trip and our educational partners in Italy,” said Dr. Maria Cantalini Williams, Associate Professor at Nipissing Brantford. “The relationship between the Brantford Rossini Lodge, the Hamilton Dante Centre and our faculty has sustained this practicum. More than 300 students have benefitted from the Italy practicum, gaining valuable knowledge, skills and insights into the curriculum, classroom management, and teaching strategies of an international education system. Students consistently return from this international practicum with wonderful learning experiences and lifelong memories.”

The group travelling to Italy includes 42 students and faculty members Dr. Christine Cho, Dr. Julie Corkett and Dr. Maria Cantalini-Williams. The trip is from May 1-22 and students will be teaching English in the schools of Sulmona, in the Abruzzo area of Italy.

We have just finished a very successful and packed teaching experience in Sulmona. We were amazed at how quickly we bonded with our students, associate teachers and the community and will miss them very much. It was very difficult to leave such an embracing environment. All of us had the opportunity to experience teaching with all five levels: infanzia, primaria, media, superiore and adulti. We are not only taking away great memories and new friends but also a wealth of teaching strategies and new understandings of the learning process. This has been a rewarding and life changing experience!

After a heart-warming closing ceremony with our associate teachers, our hotel “family” treated us to a lovely final dinner. Bright and early Tuesday morning, we boarded yet another bus for Rome. Wednesday saw us at the Vatican and part of the large crowd for a general audience with Pope Francis. We were honoured to be officially welcomed and recognized over the announcement system, which is broadcast all over the world. His message for the day was very appropriate for us … he spoke about the importance of education and family!

Yesterday, we took a high-speed train to Florence to view the amazing art, including many of Michelangelo’s sculptures. Rumour has it that the shopping was good too!

Although we’ve had an amazing trip, all good things must come to an end. Our flight leaves Rome 6:00 pm Italia time (TS315) today if you want to track our progress home!

Arrivederci Roma! (We’ve always wanted to say that!)

Grazie Italia!

Italy Update #3

In addition to teaching in the schools, we have had the opportunity to experience some of the rich history and culture of Italy. On Sunday, we travelled four hours by bus to Pompeii to learn about this remarkable ancient Roman city first hand. Our tour guides were very informative and we left with a much greater understanding of this natural treasure and why it has been awarded status as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

After leaving Pompeii, we headed to the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento. We thoroughly enjoyed exploring this city and its beautiful coastline before returning to Sulmona to prepare for the next day’s lessons.

On Wednesday, we travelled to L’Aquila to tour the city, which was heavily damaged by an earthquake in 2009. The schools in L’Aquila, which hosted Nipissing University teacher candidates in 2007 and 2008, had to be rebuilt in new locations following the earthquake, as did the rest of the ancient city. The teachers and students in the new schools greeted the Canadian teacher candidates enthusiastically with a small reception and tour of the classrooms. The children at one of the schools had prepared a program for the Nipissing contingent and their singing, speaking (in English) and dramatization were among the highlights of the day for us. We were pleased to have some Canadian songs to share with them, including our national anthem O Canada. They responded with a rousing rendition of the Italian national anthem. It was wonderful to see and hear the students sing their anthem with such passion and pride!

Our next stop was the Faculty of Education at the University of L’Aquila where we met with professors and teacher candidates. It was interesting to compare the different programs in Canada and Italy. They are more similar than we thought they were! Two of the Italian teacher candidates gave us a guided tour of the city. We were delighted that one of our associate teachers from the Superiore school, who also teaches at the university, was able to join us for the day. Fabrizio Buoncompagno was an informative and entertaining tour guide!

Many buildings are still being repaired after the earthquake. We were fortunate to be able to go into a church, which reopened only last week after experiencing extensive damage in the earthquake. The city was very busy preparing for the upcoming reunion of the retired Alpine military personal. Italian flags and other symbols of Italian pride can be found everywhere. The city will double in size over the weekend’s celebration!

As much as our teaching informs our personal teaching practice, experiencing some of the history and culture of Italy provides us with a much deeper understanding of this beautiful country, which we can bring into our teaching.

Until next time,
Ciao!

On Tuesday, May 5th, the Nipissing teacher candidates had a full day of teaching in Sulmona! We became familiar with the infanzia (nursery school), primaria (grade 1-5), media (grade 6-8), superiore (secondary school), and adulti (adult education) school locations where we are teaching for the duration of our placement. While the schools all looked similar to our schools in Canada, we soon learned just how different their education system is in Italy. For example, the primaria school is a large, open building. However, in addition to classrooms, it includes some smaller spaces to provide one-on-one opportunities to enhance a stronger teacher-student relationship, rather than having only large classrooms for all students. As well, the elementary school has a large cafeteria. Each classroom has a scheduled lunch period, during which the students go to the cafeteria for a catered-style lunch, paid for by the parents of the children! We discovered just how important education (with healthy food) is for children in Italy. The classes are all taken very seriously, and by the equivalent to grade nine in a Canadian school, students in Italy, determine their chosen educational stream and career path for their future. Later in the day on Tuesday, we all had an opportunity to observe and participate in a class at the adulti school. The adult students, some as “young” as 70+ years, had a wonderful time singing and acting out “The Hokey Pokey” with us!

On Wednesday May 6th, after a full day of teaching, a group of our students were given the opportunity to play soccer against another university, a group of film students visiting Sulmona from the University of Colorado. One might say it was Team Canada vs. Team USA. Due to the busy schedules of our Nipissing students, there were only 7 students who were able to participate and represent Nipissing, whether it was through playing in the game or cheering on the sidelines. With the help of the team coach Christine Cho, the team started off on the right foot with energy and optimism. Although the team was not having much luck when it came to scoring goals, at the beginning, the appearance of Maria Cantalini-Williams helped the team to gain some momentum. The first half finished with the Nipissing students being up 4-1. The team struggled to keep the lead, but in the end we managed to finish on top with a score of 5-3! This opportunity was an overall great experience for those students who participated both on and off the field. The students represented Nipissing University in a positive and sportsmanlike manner!

As the week progressed, the teacher candidates have become more occupied with teaching and observing classes and, of course, lesson planning. Since the focus of our trip is the opportunity to teach in Italian schools, our Nipissing group is clearly ‘in our element’! Teaching has brought all of us much joy and a very different experience from that of a Canadian school. The group is getting to know one another and has had the chance to work closely with some amazing associate teachers here in Italy. As the trip continues, we hope to learn all that we can about the Italian education system and improve our own teaching practice. We also hope to soak up as much Italian culture as possible. We made a good start on this when we visited Pompeii and Sorrento on the weekend. More about that in our next update!

Ciao!